Football against racism

Malta rises to anti-racist challenge, by Domenic Aquilina in UEFA.com:

The Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network's Action Week has been greeted with particular enthusiasm in Malta with the football association and the government uniting to show racism the red card.

The eighth Action Week against racism has seen clubs throughout Malta take part in activities geared towards confronting issues of discrimination and inequality through football. Players at all levels, as well as match officials and ball boys, wore anti-racist T-shirts as they lined up before their games, while banners at local stadiums also drew attention to the problem.

Malta Football Association (MFA) president Dr Joseph Mifsud joined forces with minister of education, culture and sport Dr Louis Galea in visiting three schools – state, church and private – as part of the drive. Galea said: "Football is a great way of delivering the message that racism is wrong and that nobody should be discriminated against just because of the colour of their skin."

In his speech at the state-run Lija-Balzan Primary School, Galea continued: "Football is an international language spoken all over the world. We remain strongly committed to supporting our country's national team. We will do that with total respect towards other people from other countries, irrespective of their skin colour."

Maltese internationals Roderick Briffa, Andrew Cohen, Jamie Pace and Brian Said were also part of the schools' delegation which, like the rest of the Mediterranean island's Action Week activities, was co-ordinated by MFA vice-president Dr Peter Fenech. Students were given the anti-racism branded replica shirts worn by the Malta side in their recent UEFA European Championship tie against Moldova as a memento of the visit...